A moving van packed with items for the Carousel of Hope Ball departs the Children’s Diabetes Foundation office. (Courtesy of the Children’s Diabetes Foundation)

Even in Beverly Hills, where celebrity-sightings are commonplace, outside of the Academy Awards, Golden Globes and other red carpet awards shows, no other event puts so many stars under one roof as the Carousel of Hope Ball.

Ever since Barbara and the late Marvin Davis staged the first Carousel Ball in Denver in 1978 (the name was changed to Carousel of Hope following the Davises’ move to Los Angeles), this benefit for the Denver-based Children’s Diabetes Foundation has held its reputation for being one of Southern California’s glitziest and star-studded fundraisers.

It is held every two years, alternating with a somewhat smaller edition held in Denver. Since its start, it has raised $75 million for the Children’s Diabetes Foundation.

The 2014 Carousel of Hope Ball, on Oct. 11 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, will have entertainment by Jennifer Hudson, Babyface and Josh Groban. Comedian Jay Leno is master of ceremonies and the Brass Ring Award will be presented to basketball great Magic Johnson.

The ball is chaired by Barbara Davis and produced by George Schlatter, perhaps best known as the Emmy-winning producer of “Laugh-In” and “Real People.” David Foster, with 16 Grammys to his credit, is the music director and the music co-chairs are the legendary Clive Davis and Quincy Jones.

The assumption, of course, is that the Davis family has “its people” in L.A. do all the heavy lifting for Carousel of Hope. What’s not that widely known is that much of the work is done by folks right here in Denver.

One of the most important tasks in preparation for the fundraiser is producing the auction catalog and souvenir journal.

“All of the printed material supporting the auction — 750 auction catalogs — are being printed here at at OneTouchPoint Mountain States,” notes Kimberly Moran-Blad, the foundation’s communications coordinator. “Two hundred of them were mailed to Los Angeles and the rest shipped. We also had the 1,200 Carousel of Hope journals printed by the same company and shipped to the Beverly Hilton.”

Foundation staff and volunteers also packed 70-plus boxes that were loaded onto a moving van and transported to the hotel.

What’s in the boxes? Seven of them contained 130 tablecloths; four boxes held 1,300 napkins and 10 boxes had items that will be up for bid in the auction, plus materials to be used in the auction staging and signage.

Bertha Lynn, the foundation’s executive director, and 20 Denver-area people have arrived in Los Angeles to assist on site. Ten are members of the Carousel of Hope’s Denver committee and the remainder are Children’s Diabetes Foundation staff.

The team will put in an estimated 1,000 hours in the days leading up to the ball, handling things like logistics; the securing of permits; scheduling and managing volunteers; and setting up the 400-item auction.

Also, a Denver staff member will coordinate a symposium held in conjunction with the ball that focuses on advances in Type 1 diabetes.

BBBY 2013, a benefit for the Global Down Syndrome Foundation, will be held at the Sheraton Denver Downtown. Special guests at the star-studded event will be music icon Quincy Jones; actor John McGinley of “Scrubs;” supermodels Beverly Johnson and DeOndra Dixon; and news personalities Kyra Phillips and John Roberts. Phillips hosts the CNN show “Raising America with Kyra Phillips;” Roberts, to whom she is married, is a national correspondent for Fox News.

Quinn Washington, chair of the Young Professionals for Be Beautiful Be Yourself.

The young professionals group is headed by Quinn Washington, president of Five Hype, and members hope to sell as many tickets as possible for the fifth annual Be Beautiful Be Yourself Fashion Show; at the very least a half-dozen tables.

In addition to food, drink and networking, the after-work gathering emceed by Luke Van Valin featured a fashion show starring some of the children and young adults with Down syndrome who also will model in the Sept. 28 gala.

The general kickoff for BBBY 2013 will be held Aug. 22 at Lawrence Covell, 225 Steele St. in Cherry Creek North. That event is being chaired by Kay Burke and Marilyn Spinner and will have refreshments from Lifestyles Catering, music by the Face Vocal Band and a “best of Lawrence Covell” fashion show.

BBBY 2013 is being chaired by Ricki Rest, with Nancy Sevo serving as chairwoman emeritus.

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Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx challenged his sister, DeOndra Dixon, to a dance-off at the Be Beautiful Be Yourself Jet Set Fashion Show.

Stars continue to shine on the Global Down Syndrome’s million-dollar baby, the Be Beautiful Be Yourself Jet Set Fashion Show. Quincy Jones and Jamie Foxx made their second appearance at the gala that had its start in a Broomfield airplane hangar and has since exploded into an event that commands international attention.

For those who ask “How did that happen?,” the answer is simple. Cherry Hills Village residents John Sie, founder of what is now Starz Entertainment, and his wife, Anna, have a granddaughter with Down syndrome, Sophia Whitten. From the moment she was born, they vowed to make sure that Sophia, and the estimated 6 million others who have Down syndrome, are treated with dignity and respect as they work, play and achieve without people telling them “You can’t do this” or “You shouldn’t do that.”

Sophia’s mother, Michelle Sie Whitten, shares her parents’ passion and is executive director of the nonprofit organization that John and Anna Sie started, Global Down Syndrome Foundation. The foundation’s mission is to “Significantly improv(e) the lives of people with Down syndrome through research, medical care, education and advocacy.” The money it raises — like the $1 million net from Saturday night’s Be Beautiful Be Yourself Jet Set Fashion Show — goes to the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome and its medical care arm, the Anna and John J. Sie Center for Down Syndrome.
Located on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, the institute is the first organization to be founded with the goal of eradicating the medical and cognitive ill effects associated with Down syndrome. Its director, Dr. Ed McCabe, predicts that will happen soon; 2017 is the target year.

Laurin Gilmour and Casey Gunning offered an enthusiastic welcome to the 1,200 guests. (Steve Peterson, Special to The Denver Post)

My story in the print edition of today’s Denver Post has all the facts and figures surrounding the third Be Beautiful Be Yourself Jet Set Fashion Show: The amount of money raised ($1.45 million gross), how many people were there (1,200) and the celebrities in attendance (Quincy Jones, Jamie Foxx, Jeff Probst, Stepfanie Kramer, Timothy Shriver, Chauncey Billups, Ed McCaffrey, Billy Van Heusen, David Duval, Eric Hutchinson).

I was able to squeeze a lot of information into a limited amount of space, but not everything would fit. Thank goodness for blogs, because there’s plenty of room on the Internet. So, with no further ado, here are some fun things that otherwise would have wound up on the cutting room floor:

Quincy Jones is a music business legend, an award-winning (27 Grammys) composer, producer and arranger who has worked with everyone from Lesley Gore to Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson, whose Jones-produced album, “Thriller,” sold 110 million copies. Jones was the force behind the legendary group recording of “We Are the World,” and was the first African American to be made music director for the Academy Awards.

The man also knows his shoes.

When Kalleen Malone (her husband Bob’s Steele Street Bank and Trust shared a $50,000 sponsorship with Land Title Guarantee Co.) stood next to him for a red carpet photo op, Jones took a minute to admire the rhinestone-studded Dolce & Gabbana high-heeled sandals she was wearing.

“He said he really liked them,” Kalleen marveled. “I’m totally flabbergasted … I mean, how many men would notice the shoes?” Read more…